Ice Dragon of Namgung - Chapter 65

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 65
The Janggang Boat Clan’s riverboat prepared to depart Muho early in the morning.
Namgung Geom stood at the bow of the riverboat, gazing out at the Janggang.
A thick mist clung to the river’s surface.
It was difficult to make out objects even a few paces ahead.
“Commander, the departure preparations are complete.”
The Janggang Boat Clan’s First-Class Sword Unit leader, Namgung Gwan, approached and cupped his fist in salute.
His expression was clouded with tension.
On mornings like this, when the mist hung so thick, water bandits could stage ambushes under ideal conditions.
“With fog this dense, there will be no difficulty navigating the riverboat?”
“We can operate the riverboat without issue, but if the Janggang Water Route Alliance chooses to attack, we may not detect them in time.”
“What of postponing our departure until the mist clears?”
Namgung U, the deputy commander of the Changyong Sword Clan, made the suggestion from where he stood.
“Once the mist settles here, it can linger for days.”
Namgung Gwan warned that the fog might not lift anytime soon.
Namgung Geom’s expression grew troubled.
“Waiting for the mist to dissipate would consume far too much time.”
“Indeed. To arrive at Hwahyun by nightfall, we must depart at once.”
“We cannot afford to waste time here. We sail immediately.”
Safety would dictate waiting until the mist lifted before proceeding.
Yet with no way of knowing when that might happen, they could not simply idle.
The itinerary was already tight—they still had to visit both the Eastern and Northern Sword Clans.
“Understood. I shall give the order to depart at once.”
Namgung Gwan immediately commanded the Janggang Boat Clan’s riverboat to set sail.
“As for any ambush from the Janggang Water Route Alliance, I will keep watch. Do not worry.”
Namgung Gwan was startled by his words.
“You mean to say you will stand watch yourself, Crown Prince?”
“If there exists anyone who can see farther through this mist than I, I will entrust it to them instead.”
“Of course, no one could possibly see farther than you, Crown Prince. Still, to ask you to undertake such a duty…….”
“It is better than entrusting the watch to another, only to fail in detecting the enemy’s approach and placing us in danger.”
Faced with Namgung Geom’s resolute manner, Namgung Gwan raised no further objection.
“Then I entrust the watch to you, Crown Prince.”
After delegating the duty to Namgung Geom, Namgung Gwan turned and went inside to command the riverboat.
“Deputy Commander, you should go below as well.”
“No. I will remain here and keep watch alongside you, Commander.”
Namgung Geom gave a slight nod, as if to say he could do as he pleased.
Soon the three riverboats of the Janggang Boat Clan began to cut through the water with ponderous grace.
Namgung Geom kept his Qi Sense fully alert, piercing the mist-shrouded waters ahead with a sharp, unwavering gaze.
The First-Class Sword Unit members from both the Changyong Sword Clan and the Janggang Boat Clan, distributed among the three vessels, remained vigilant in all directions, ready for ambush.
About an hour’s journey after leaving Muho.
Whirrrrr—
A strange, grating sound of water reached their ears.
It was not the ordinary lapping of river waves.
It was the sound of something sliding rapidly across the water’s surface.
Namgung Geom threw open his Qi Sense fully, identifying the source of the sound.
Though invisible to the eye, he felt dozens of boats approaching at great speed.
‘The Janggang Water Route Alliance!’
Namgung Geom immediately recognized them as water bandits of the Janggang Water Route Alliance.
One puzzling detail stood out: the approaching vessels were not riverboats, but dozens of small boats.
“Enemies! Water bandits of the Janggang Water Route Alliance!”
Namgung Geom set aside his questions for now and shouted a warning toward the Janggang Boat Clan’s riverboat.
Namgung Gwan, leader of the First-Class Sword Unit, rushed out urgently.
“Can you determine how many enemy vessels approach?”
“Dozens of small boats, closing in to surround us.”
“Dozens of small boats, you say?”
Namgung Gwan’s face went pale.
“Why? What troubles you?”
“Those are suicide boats of the Janggang Water Route Alliance.”
“Suicide boats?”
“Yes. Their strategy is to ram small boats loaded with explosives and oil barrels into our vessels, detonating them on impact.”
Namgung Geom’s expression hardened.
The Suicide Boats approached at twice the speed of the Janggang Boat Clan’s Riverboats.
Three Riverboats were surrounded on all sides by Suicide Boats that had already penetrated several dozen zhang inward.
Even if they turned the Riverboats, there was no way to evade the Suicide Boats.
“How are we to deal with the Suicide Boats?”
Namgung Geom asked Namgung Gwan.
He was ignorant of Suicide Boats.
But Namgung Gwan, who had led the Janggang Boat Clan against the Janggang Water Route Alliance, would know well.
“At the speed of our Riverboats, it is difficult to evade them. It is also impossible to destroy dozens of Suicide Boats all at once.”
Namgung Gwan replied with a grave expression.
“There is no way to stop the Suicide Boats?”
“That is correct. We can only minimize the damage from the explosions and jump into the Janggang before the ships burn and sink.”
At Namgung Gwan’s answer, Namgung Geom’s expression darkened further.
“Once we jump into the Janggang, the Water Bandits of the Janggang Water Route Alliance won’t simply stand idle, will they?”
Namgung Gwan nodded.
“Immediately after jumping into the Janggang, the Water Bandits of the Janggang Water Route Alliance will launch their assault.”
The warriors of the Namgung Clan fundamentally knew how to swim.
But in the fierce currents of the Janggang, swimming was not easy.
The Water Bandits of the Janggang Water Route Alliance, by contrast, made their livelihood from the Janggang itself.
They could move freely in the Janggang’s fierce currents and launch attacks just the same.
Even if the warriors of the Changyong Sword Clan and the First-Class Sword Unit of the Janggang Boat Clan surpassed them in martial skill, they were no match for them beneath the Janggang’s waters.
It was virtually impossible to defend against their attacks while barely keeping oneself afloat.
If the Suicide Boats detonated and the Riverboats sank as things stood, the Changyong Sword Clan and the First-Class Sword Unit of the Janggang Boat Clan would suffer devastating losses.
To prevent that, the Suicide Boats had to be stopped somehow.
Namgung Geom searched for a way to halt them.
But no method came to mind readily.
Meanwhile, the Suicide Boats drew within ten zhang.
Dozens of Suicide Boats revealed their shapes through the thick mist.
They were vessels with sharp rams fixed to their bows that, upon striking an enemy ship, would explode and ignite a blaze that would not release their grip until the enemy ship had sunk.
Ten Water Bandits rowed each Suicide Boat, and just before collision, they would leap into the Janggang to escape the explosion.
Their duty was then to deploy Underwater Combat and attack those who jumped from the enemy ship.
As Namgung Geom deliberated on a method, the Suicide Boats closed the distance again, penetrating to within five zhang.
Then, Namgung Geom’s eyes flashed with sudden brilliance.
A solution had come to him.
“I will stop the Suicide Boats. Fall back at once.”
Without waiting for Namgung Gwan’s response, Namgung Geom leaped into the Janggang.
“My Lord!”
“The Crown Prince!”
Those on the Riverboat cried out in shock, calling after him.
But Namgung Geom had already plunged into the waters of the Janggang.
Plunging into the Janggang’s waters, Namgung Geom drove the Ice Dragon Sword downward.
The force that erupted from the Ice Dragon Sword created a rebound thrust in the water, and his body shot upward toward the surface.
By then, the Suicide Boats had drawn to within three zhang.
Those aboard the Riverboat watched Namgung Geom with anxious eyes.
None of them could fathom how he intended to stop the Suicide Boats.
Their worry that something might go wrong with Namgung Geom weighed as heavily as a mountain.
At that moment, Namgung Geom drove the Ice Dragon Sword toward the surface of the Janggang.
A torrent of frigid Qi poured from the Ice Dragon Sword, and the surface of the Janggang froze solid.
“Insane!”
“He’s freezing the Janggang itself?!”
Those watching from the Riverboat gasped in astonishment.
So too did the Water Bandits aboard the Suicide Boats.
To freeze the Janggang with the power of a single human being.
It was something no one had ever conceived of.
Yet that impossible feat was unfolding before them through Namgung Geom’s Ice Dragon Sword.
Crack!
The freezing Qi that poured from the Ice Dragon Sword froze the Janggang’s surface and rapidly expanded its reach.
Heavenly Earth Freezing.
The ultimate technique of the Ice White Divine Art—to release all of one’s frigid Inner Power at once and freeze everything in the surrounding area.
Heavenly Earth Freezing was a technique that required at least the Absolute Realm of cultivation.
Ordinarily, Namgung Geom’s cultivation level would not permit him to unfold the Heavenly Earth Freezing.
Yet he could deploy it because of his experience reaching the Absolute Realm in his past life and the power of the Ice Dragon Sword.
Namgung Geom had manifested a technique that momentarily transcended his current cultivation level by drawing on that former life’s knowledge.
But even that had its limits.
Without the Ice Dragon Sword, deploying the Heavenly Earth Freezing would have been impossible.
The Ice Dragon Sword possessed the power to amplify Cold Qi.
Namgung Geom compensated for his insufficient cultivation level through the sword’s Cold Qi amplification, and so could manifest the Heavenly Earth Freezing.
Yet this version of the Heavenly Earth Freezing—manifested not through true attainment but through his past life’s cultivation and the Ice Dragon Sword—brought crushing strain upon his body.
That agony coursed through him entirely.
“Ngh—”
Namgung Geom swallowed a groan as his entire body felt as though it were shattering.
But he did not cease his Inner Power.
If he stopped the Heavenly Earth Freezing here, everything he had done so far would become meaningless.
Namgung Geom gritted his teeth and poured his Inner Power into the Ice Dragon Sword.
Whoooosh!
The Ice Dragon Sword, resonating with his will, trembled powerfully and amplified the Cold Qi.
Crack!
The surface of the Janggang froze rapidly, swallowing the hull of a suicide boat in its path.
The suicide boats that had been rushing toward the flagship of the Janggang Boat Clan became trapped in the frozen river.
The water bandits aboard the suicide boat were greatly alarmed.
To freeze an entire river and halt the boats—even experiencing it directly, they could hardly believe it.
“Smash the ice!”
Then a cry rang out from the riverboat positioned behind the suicide boat.
It was the voice of Hwang Jin-ung, leader of the Black Water Bandits.
The water bandits aboard the suicide boat raised their oars, attempting to break the frozen river.
But Namgung Geom would not allow it.
He drove the Ice Dragon Sword down into the frozen water.
Shatter!
The frozen river shattered and transformed into sharp shards of ice like daggers.
And they pierced straight through the suicide boat’s hull.
With the hull torn open by the ice shards, water poured into the suicide boat, which began to sink rapidly.
“You damned—!”
The water bandits leaped from the sinking vessel.
The suicide boat sank swiftly into the depths.
The explosives rigged to the boat became useless as they submerged in water.
Yet Namgung Geom had managed to sink fewer than half the suicide boats.
The range was too wide; those on the left and right flanks bore down on the riverboats before he could intercept them.
“Attack the water bandits manning the suicide boats!”
The Janggang Boat Clan’s riverboats also unleashed arrows to halt the suicide boats.
They aimed to strike down the oarsmen to stop the vessels.
But the water bandits at the bow of each suicide boat raised great shields and deflected the arrows.
The suicide boats pressed onward toward the riverboats on both sides.
And they struck the hulls head-on.
The ram affixed to the bow of each suicide boat lodged directly into the riverboat’s hull.
Boom! Boom-crash!
At once, the explosives detonated with a tremendous roar.
The blast tore the riverboat’s hull to splinters, scattering debris everywhere.
Whoosh-boom!
Crackle!
Immediately after, a massive column of fire erupted from the suicide boat with a deafening blast.
Oil barrels ruptured in the explosion, spreading flames across the water.
Fire from the suicide boat engulfed the riverboat’s hull.
The two damaged riverboats were consumed by flames in an instant and began to sink into the river.
The Changyong Sword Clan members and First-Class Sword Unit members aboard rushed desperately into the water.
Water bandits of the Black Water Bandits moved swiftly to intercept them.
Their movements, as they deployed Underwater Combat beneath the surface, were extraordinarily nimble.
Namgung Geom, perceiving the water bandits’ movements, shouted urgently.
“Everyone—be careful in the water!”
But the water bandits’ assault was not directed at them alone.
Dozens of water bandits were already closing in on Namgung Geom.
Namgung Geom’s Ice Dragon Sword
Author |
White Moon Sword
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(주) Samyang C&C
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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